Carroll Public School ran the barbecue on Sunday and raised more than $900, while $585 was raised for Namoi Valley Partners in Learning through a club raffle. Partners in Learning is a partnership between public schools in the shire.

Polo club vice-president Edward Hoddle said kids get caught in the middle when drought impacts their families.

“We decided as a community that we should do something for direct aid in the community; money raised in Gunnedah to stay in Gunnedah,” he said.

The club had considered cancelling the carnival because of the drought but decided it would be better to go ahead.

“This year the Gunnedah carnival was definitely a club in survival mode,” he said.

“It was deemed that the Gunnedah polo carnival is not only a thing we look forward to but also something that the community looks forward to it and to cancel it would be to deprive the community of a fun day out.

“We thought the net benefit of providing a social day for people to come together in the community would be too great to lose so we then looked at how we could turn the polo carnival into something that could continue to benefit the community and that’s when we decided to make it a drought function.”

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Mr Hoddle said about 300 people attended the carnival over the Saturday and Sunday in early September.

“It was a wonderful early spring day,” he said.

“It was a wonderful occasion for people to come together. The club is a very welcoming and warm place for people to have a few drinks and catch up with people they haven’t seen for a while.

“That was really the focus this year – to make it a really receiving place for people to come.”

Carroll Public School held a drought fundraiser for Aussie Helpers in August. Click here to read the story and see the photos.